The Philippines received on Monday morning two million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine procured from China.
The vaccine doses were flown into Manila from Beijing, China using a Philippine Airlines plane.
The shipment arrived past 7 a.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. was at NAIA to receive the vaccine procurement.
From NAIA, the vaccine doses were brought to a cold storage facility.
Galvez, also the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said the Sinovac vaccine doses that arrived on Monday will be delivered to Regions 4A, 3, 6, 11, 9, and surge areas, as well as 151 highly urbanized cities.
He added that the two million Sinovac doses that just arrived are part of the 12-million doses procured by the government scheduled to be delivered this month. Another 10 million Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses are expected to be delivered in October.
With the Sinovac doses that arrived Monday, the country’s total vaccines received so far is 56.7 million doses, he said.
He also said the country will receive later this month 5.5 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses from the COVAX facility, according to a report by Mao dela Cruz on Dobol B TV.
Also expected to arrive soon are COVID-19 vaccines of AstraZeneca and Moderna.
Galvez said during a taped address of President Rodrigo Duterte aired on Saturday that the Philippine government is set to start the vaccination of the general public by next month, with the expected arrival of over 61 million doses COVID-19 vaccines.
On Monday he said negotiations with AstraZeneca are ongoing as they are open to tripartite agreements with the national government and local government units.
Galvez said they are also looking into procuring vaccines of other brands, and considering cost effectiveness.
“Ang aming recommendation sa HTAC (Health Technology Assessment Council) ay lahat na bibilihin natin na mga vaccine dapat may WHO (World Health Organization) emergency use list para sigurado tayo na itong mga vaccines na ito ay kasama sa ating portfolio. Kasi ang ano natin, as much as possible, lahat ng gagawin natin sa portfolio sa 2022 ay may WHO emergency use list para sigurado tayo ‘yung mga vaccines kasama sa COVAX,” he said.
(Our recommendation to HTAC is all the vaccines [we will procure] should be on the WHO emergency use list so we can be sure the vaccines are part of our portfolio. Our plan is, as much as possible, to have our portfolio of 2022 composed of vaccines on the WHO emergency use list so we can be sure the vaccines are part of COVAX.) —KG, GMA News
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